100th Birth Anniversary of Merited Professor of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University Borys Shramko

January 17, 2021 marks the 100th birth anniversary of Borys Shramko, Doctor of History, Merited Professor of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (1921–2012).

As a first-year student, Borys Shramko became interested in archeology and began to take part in archeological excavations. However, the war interrupted his studies.

He was engaged in combat, commanded a howitzer battery, was seriously wounded during the liberation of Kharkiv, and had four military awards. After the war, he graduated from the School of History with honors, pursued postgraduate studies, and then worked at Kharkiv University until the end of his life. 

He headed the Museum of Archeology, the Department of Ancient World and Archeology of the School of History. For many years, he taught general and specialized courses at the School of History, led a student research club, two archaeological expeditions. Many of his students became professional archaeologists.

Borys Shramko made a significant contribution to archaeological science. He explored a wide range of monuments of the Dnieper-Donetsk forest-steppe from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages. Through his efforts, large-scale explorations and excavations were carried out in the Siverskyi Donets and Vorskla basins, and hundreds of new archeological sites were mapped and described. It was he who discovered the Bondarykhin archeological culture, researched the Liubotyn settlement of Scythian times and the Donetsk settlement. For more than thirty years, the scientist studied the Bielsk settlement, which is identified with the city of Gelon, which was mentioned by “The Father of History" Herodotus.

Borys Shramko was the first in Ukraine to purposefully use the methods of natural sciences (petrography, metallography, paleobotany, spectral and chemical analysis, etc.) in archeology. For many years, he deeply and fruitfully studied the economy, fortifications, construction, handicrafts, art, religious beliefs of the tribes of the Forest-Steppe Scythia. The scientist is the author of hundreds of scientific papers, monographs, textbooks and manuals. His works continue to be studied, they continue to be referred to.

For many years, he was a member of the International Committee for the Study of Ancient Iron Metallurgy of UNESCO, collaborated with the International Committee for the History of Agriculture and Agricultural Tools (Denmark).

In 1996, he was the first at the University to receive the honorary title of "Merited Professor of Kharkiv University". In 2005, Borys Shramko was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Kharkiv" for his outstanding contribution to the study of the city's history, service to science and education.

This year, in honor of the scientist, it is planned to open thematic exhibitions in the Museum of Archeology and in the Central Scientific Library of Karazin University, to publish a collection of memoirs and scientific articles, to organize a scientific seminar, and more.